Save the Last Trance
Superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold puts his beats and his legendary remix talents through another spin cycle
By Arrissia Owen Turner
In 1987, Paul Oakenfold’s life changed after a weeklong party on the Mediterranean island Ibiza, named for Bes, the god of music and dance that was worshipped around 650 B.C. These days, the island attracts many disciples, turning it into a big party island run on electronic music and sheer ecstasy.
Oakenfold returned home a changed man intent on replicating the sound back in London. He started DJing locally and his reputation led to producer credits for Manchester bands like Happy Mondays and Stone Roses. Then in ’93, Bono rang. Oakenfold’s remix of U2’s “Even Better than the Real Thing” hit higher on the charts than the original, cementing him as a bona fide star.
In 1995, he became the first DJ to perform on the main stage at the Glastonbury Festival, in front of about 90,000 people. By 1998 and ’99, the celebrity DJ kept growing in household name status from his residency at Cream in Liverpool.
These days Oakenfold’s widely considered an elder statesman of electronic music, lending his talents to remixes of Mark Ronson, Radiohead and more. He currently holds down a weekly residency at the Palms Hotel at Rain Nightclub in Las Vegas. His highly anticipated Pop Killer release is expected to hit dance floors in early 2011.
CULTURE recently had a chance to chat with Oakenfold a few days prior to his scheduled DJ set at Cypress Hill’s SmokeOut festival in San Bernardino. The globally renowned DJ talked about his rise to fame, pretending to be a journalist to get into New York clubs and why England and Europe have really got a handle on smoking marijuana legally.
For the Q&A click here:
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